Symbolism
by fAtAlflAme
Summary: A series of one shots about those ever present items that make shinobi who they are.
1. Asuma: Cigarettes

Asuma: Cigarettes

_Asuma didn't always smoke cigarettes. I don't own Naruto, etc,etc. I know. I'm sad too. _

When Asuma was 13, he began smoking cigarettes. He didn't do it for lack of something better to do, as the Hokage had made sure that he was constantly running missions with his cell. He didn't smoke cigarettes because he wanted to look cool, seeing as he was a shinobi, and that demanded the utmost respect anyway. He didn't do it because somebody he idolized did, because, unfortunately, they were all dead. He smoked cigarettes to deal with the stress of what he did.

He'd killed his first man…he didn't have another choice. His single female teammate had sobbed against his sensei, and his other teammate was unconscious a few feet away. He'd searched the body for anything important before setting it on fire, and he'd only found two things worth saving. A pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

When his sensei and teammates had gone to sleep that night, he'd sat high in a tree, and pulled out the tattered pack. Producing a cigarette, he lit it, and raising it to his lips, had inhaled. He breathed in life. It wasn't his life, but the life of a soldier who'd tried so hard only to be beaten.

Asuma began smoking cigarettes when he was 13. The villagers always joke that you will never find him without one, he's addicted. He can quit anytime though, he says. He doesn't smoke them for a fix. He doesn't smoke them for a lack of something better to do. He smokes them so he can breathe in life. Breathe in the life of so many people he's killed. He's always got a cigarette in his hands, because he's always killing. But he can stop any time. Really.


	2. Chouji: Tattoos

Chouji: Tattoos

_Chouji has tattoos. I'm sure you noticed too, but i couldn't resist! I don't own Naruto, etc,etc. I know. I'm sad too. (yeah, this disclimer will repeat. Don't cry now)_

When Chouji was just a child, his parents gave him tattoos. If given a choice, he probably would've said he didn't want them, that his abnormally large gut would show he's an Akamichi anyway. Now, he's glad he has them. Sure, he's recognizable, he's easily twice the width of any normal person, but that doesn't show enough. He doesn't need the tattoos to make him unique; he needs them because they're his label. They're like a sign, red as blood, covering his face, and screaming 'Danger' for the entire world to see.

He'd carried the box of pills since he graduated the academy, and even though he doesn't want them, they're as needed as his tattoos. They're what his tattoos represent. There's a reason that the swirls on his cheeks aren't green, or yellow. They're red, like the pill that will one day end his life, but is just as necessary as the tattoos. They're what make him a ninja.

The day Chouji goes after Sasuke, people will understand. They'll finally realize that the tattoos on his face were something different. When Chouji made his decision and swallowed that red pill, everything went downhill. His recognizable stomach shrunk. His dog tags were ripped from his neck. When they found Akamichi Chouji the only thing left of him that was recognizable were the tattoos.


	3. Gaara: Gourd

Gaara: Gourd

_Gaara's has this super cool gourd that...well. It just does stuff, but i wrote about it anyway. Especially for Ryou VeRua (my wonderful Beta) and Danish. I don't own Naruto, etc,etc. I know. I'm sad too. (yeah, same old disclaimer. I'll change it sometime...you just wait.)_

Gaara had carried his gourd for as long as he remembered. It was a part of him, just like his bones and his blood. There was something about its presence that was warm and comforting. The weight on his back reassured him that somebody was there for him. It didn't matter that every once in a while voices came from it, strangling his mind as it gasped for some form of understanding. He couldn't stop the inevitable, and hearing voices _was_ a sign of insanity.

Every time he killed, every time the demon called for blood and he fearlessly obeyed, he knew that if nothing else, the blood would join the sand in his gourd and add another person to his protective group. They were always there, the sand was always ready to defend for him, whether he wanted it or not. Mother might scream for blood, and he might have to wordlessly follow, but the title of demon was not one to be taken lightly, and Gaara was a demon of sorts.

When night fell, and all of Sunagakure was asleep, he was awake. Sometimes he would nurse a glass of some foul liquid that would help him stay alert until the sun rose again. Sometimes he would watch his brother and sister and wonder if some day they would help protect him too. Sometimes he spoke to them…the voices in his gourd. They told him they would never let him be harmed, never let him die. Sometimes he wasn't sure that was a good thing.


	4. Gai: Spandex

Gai: Spandex

_Apparently, I mangaed to take something that should be really funny, and kill it in the last paragraph... I'm so angsty. I love spandex now... I don't own Naruto 'cause I'm just not that creative. I'm also too broke to buy it so nyeh to you too. _

There was something soothing about having green fabric wrapped tightly around your body. Gai never truly understood what it was, but for the time he put on his green spandex body suit every morning, he felt a little safer. His appearance was comforting every time he looked at it. Black hair in its neat bowl shaped haircut. He cut it himself every month, with the help of none other then his trusty bowl and scissors. Massive eyebrows, which, although abnormally bushy, were always neatly groomed. Lastly, but most importantly, came his green spandex, clinging to his oh-so-manly body. Gorgeous.

Once, on a mission, his teammate had gotten injured. He'd clumsily ripped off a piece of his spandex weapon pouch, and bound the injury. According to the healer, the build of the fabric had produced amazing compression, ensuring that his comrade had lived to see another battle. Gai started wearing spandex then. Who knew when a comrade might get a full body injury and he would need a full spandex suit. If Gai had to walk around nude, that was very alright.

Since that revealing point in Gai's life, he'd worn the spandex suit with his jounin vest. It made him feel safe, made him feel prepared. He'd drilled into the mind of his most obedient student, Rock Lee, that the spandex suit was safe. It was as safe as you could get without walking around in bubble wrap. Nobody told Gai that during the Chunnin examination, when Lee faced the Sand kid, that the spandex suit wouldn't help him. When Gai was told that his green spandex clad student might never be a ninja again, Gai just didn't understand. It was the only time he ever doubted his reliable green spandex bodysuit.


	5. Ino: Flowers

Ino: Flowers

_They tell me I don't own Naruto. I guess they might be right. Read and review all you people! Pwease?_

The first time Ino ever picked flowers was for a funeral. She was too young to remember whose funeral it was, but she could vividly remember the stark white petals of the flowers. The shop had been closed, and one of her father's friends had come in drenched and trembling, holding onto a shining set of dog tags. It had been pouring outside, and Ino had been waiting for somebody to come in and praise what a patient little girl she was being. Her father had told her to pick some flowers. White, to represent the dead. She'd come back inside, holding all the white flowers she could find, and a blood red rose that the lady down the street had given her to 'get her out of the rain faster.' The rose had stayed, admired for its beauty. The bouquet had lost its splendor when it was laid in the hands of the dead, she remembered.

Ino had worked devotedly at the flower shop from that point on. Her growth was measured by the number of books she had to stand on to see over the counter top, and her skills as a ninja by the amount of time it took for her to gather flowers for the shop. She soon forgot why she did this, when training got hard, and she was exhausted, but the memory of that single rose never left her.


End file.
